Help! File this case in the demented VSO box. The Disabled American Veterans organization has been around for quite some time helping Vets. With that said, why on earth did they let this one go up to D.C. for an appeal? If a Vet raises an issue in the first instance (even if its a request for an exam at the VAMC) it constitutes an informal claim and the VA must address it. DAV knows this. They do it countless times every day. This little stunt is now going to cost the poor Vet about 18 months of delay while it is sent back toConnecticutfor a de novo decision at the Hartford RO. If this isn’t enough to piss off the pope I don’t know what is. Veterans should not have to be subject to this kind of treatment. VSOs are not attorneys no matter how much they would like to be. Always get a second opinion on these things before you invest years into it. If your SO gets bent out of shape because you question his judgement, then perhaps you need to move on and investigate another VSO as a potential representative. Just one Vet’s opinion, mind you.

http://www4.va.gov/vetapp10/files3/1022836.txt

The proper way to go after this is to sign the waiver and let the AMC handle it. Why send it back to the RO? It’s been denied below and it’s not going to improve with ageing like wine. I’d prefer someone with a 3 digit IQ adjudicate my claim. As there is very little in the way of intelligent life at the RO, this is axiomatic.